I hesitate for one very short moment, and then I’m chasing after her.
The tunnel is blacker than night, but I send my shadows pulsing through the air, lighting my way. I catch sight of the swish of her torn cloak just yards from me as she runs away.
I’m going to kill her. I cannot be stopped. I will succeed. I should have killed her the first time I knew the truth – the first time I learned of what she’d done to our girl. I should have killed her then, and I should have made her death painful and full of suffering, like I’m going to now.
“Beaufort,” she sings, “are you coming to get me? Are you coming to kill me?”
And then we find ourselves in another room, much smaller, barely big enough for the two of us. She’s trapped now. I haveher. I know I’m stronger than her, even if she comes at me with her magic, I am more powerful, and armed with this sword; she doesn’t stand a chance.
“My offer still stands, darling,” she says, gliding her tongue down her sharp fangs. My stomach turns thinking of Fox’s teeth buried in my mate’s neck, probably at this very moment. I shake the thought away and focus back on her. “You’d make a glorious immortal.”
“I’m not a fool like Tudor. I’d never fall for your bullshit.”
She observes me with curiosity. “I always thought you’d make a good emperor,” she says.
I swing the sword through the air and she darts away again.
“You are powerful, after all. Charming and exceedingly handsome. But now I see you don’t have what it takes.”
I don’t rise to the bait. She’s just trying to goad me. But I’m not biting.
When I don’t respond, she shoots a web of shadow magic my way. It spreads in the air like a net, but I swipe at it with the sword and it shatters, falling to the floor in pieces.
“Oh, you really are going to kill me,” she says, her eyes glowing with mania. “What will Mother Dearest say?”
“I don’t give a shit,” I growl.
And yet we both know that’s not true. There will be consequences for the action I’m about to take. In fact, they could be severe.
Bardin shoots another stream of shadow magic my way. This time it twists and turns in the air, swerving and spiraling away from my own magic as it’s chased. When my shadows finally catch a grip of hers, there’s a hissing sound and the two ropes of magic twist and twine, both trying to gain control like a pair of battling snakes.
“Although,” she continues, “perhaps you’re right to disregard her orders. After all, she did send you here to die.”
I can’t help myself – I jolt.
What the hell does she mean?
I growl and twist my magic more firmly around hers, squeezing it until it disintegrates to nothing.
“She didn’t send me to die. She sent me to capture you, to take you back to the realm and face the justice you deserve. But frankly, that process will take too long. And it’s far too kind – more than you deserve. So I’m going to cut through the bullshit and end you once and for all, Bardin.”
I fire my shadows at her and she meets them with her own; for a moment we remain like that, our shadows battling away, crashing into one another head on, over and over again. Then I get lucky, she misses, one of my shadows streaming towards her and crashing into her shoulder, sending her flying backwards into the wall. I take my opportunity, darting forward and slamming into her with the might of my body, the blade of the magical sword pressed firmly to her ghostly throat.
She peers down at the blade and then up at me. Her eyes glow that menacing red color.
“And this is what I mean, Prince Lincoln. This is why you are not suited for the throne. You may have your father’s good looks. You may even have his charm. And you have inherited a little of your mother’s powers. But you don’t have her ruthlessness. You don’t have her cunning. There’s not a political bone in your body. You are naïve and you are blind.”
“And yet I saw you for what you really are,” I snarl.
“All I have done is obey orders.”
“Whose orders?” I growl, pressing the blade into her flesh.
Does she mean the demons? Is there more to them than we suspect? Something or someone controlling them behind the scenes? Do they have a master? Or are they growing in intelligence as well as strength?
“So slow.” She sighs. “You really haven’t worked it out yet, have you?”
“Whose orders?” I growl again, this time wrapping my magic around her body as the sword cuts into her throat. She struggles, her own magic stinging against mine.
